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Lee Bul’s Sculptures Explore Progress And Illusion At The Met’s Genesis Facade Commission
The Genesis Facade Commission: Lee Bul, Long Tail Halo, is now open at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This exhibition will be available for viewing until May 27, 2025. It showcases four new site-specific works by artist Lee Bul.
Genesis Art Initiatives aims to celebrate art as a genuine experience. By collaborating with leading institutions and cultural visionaries, it seeks to uncover the truly meaningful aspects of life.
Lee Bul’s sculptures are known for their sophisticated use of both industrial and artisanal materials. These include fabric, metal, plastic, silicone, porcelain, and glass. Her works often evoke bodily forms that blend classical and futuristic elements.
The new pieces in this exhibition feature four sculptures made from EVA (Ethylene Vinyl Acetate) or polycarbonate parts over steel armatures. Long Tail Halo: CTCS #1 and Long Tail Halo: CTCS #2 flank the Museum entrance. Their human-like forms recall Cubist and Futurist masterpieces, scholar’s rocks, Greco-Roman classics, and historical armors in The Met collection.
Long Tail Halo: Secret Sharer II and Long Tail Halo: Secret Sharer III each hunch over a cascade of fragmented prisms. Their behaviour evokes the artist’s pets that acted as her guardians. These artworks symbolize the enduring human desire for progress and perfection while hinting at inherent failures and repercussions.
"The Genesis Facade Commission: Lee Bul, Long Tail Halo invites us to reconsider cultural norms and values through the artist’s unbounded and timeless practices," said DooEun Choi, Art Director of Hyundai Motor. "We anticipate that this exhibition will trigger a profound experience that transcends spatial and temporal boundaries."
A New Partnership
This installation marks the first under a new multiyear partnership between Genesis and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Launched in 2019, The Met invites artists annually to create new site-specific works for its Fifth Avenue facade niches. This initiative aims to inspire authentic connections between artists, The Met's audiences, and the global art scene.
"Lee Bul’s extraordinary sculptures explore the complexities of the human condition through powerful hybrid forms that draw from the past while speaking to present-day hopes and anxieties about the future," said Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer. "This commission series invites artists to engage with, transform, and even challenge The Met’s iconic Fifth Avenue facade."
Genesis Art Initiatives
Genesis Art Initiatives was launched alongside Hyundai Motor’s decade-long partnerships with global museums and cultural organizations. It celebrates art as an avenue to discover what is truly meaningful by collaborating with leading institutions worldwide.
The initiatives include The Genesis Facade Commission at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Genesis Exhibition at Tate Modern. These projects aim to enrich today’s cultural dialogue by amplifying timeless insights that resonate across generations.
The upcoming Genesis Exhibition: Do Ho Suh will be on view from May 1 to October 26, 2025 at Tate Modern. This will be followed by significant projects around the globe.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 by American citizens who wanted to create a museum for art education. Today, it displays tens of thousands of objects covering 5,000 years of art from around the world.
The Met lives in two iconic sites in New York City—The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters—and millions also take part in its online experiences. Since its founding, The Met has aimed to be more than just a treasury of rare objects; it brings art alive through exhibitions and events revealing new ideas across time and cultures.
This exhibition is Lee's first major project in New York since her solo exhibition at the New Museum in 2002. Her towering sculptures respond to The Museum’s iconic facade as a site for statues while challenging what sculptures can reveal about our times.
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